Benin

That video to me it looks like the water jets are slightly out of sync...Doesn't look like the outside seats will get wet either Shame, I liked that aspect of Raptor a lot, but maybe it'll be rectified...

No, cannot access that area of the park until opening day (unless there's a secret insider taking photos this year)...

NOM!Seriously delicious that is...

As has been suggested, cut ERT off the offpeak days, and then keep the 10-5 opening...I see very little slandering on here of Merlin, seems more constructive in the criticism than other forums have been on the issue... People want our parks to be as good as possible, but thinking that losing an hour for many guests is a bad option... Again, what about all those who turn up AFTER 10? They lose out greatly and won't want to go...This could easily backfire for them... Just cos some of us don't ride Subbmission or Enterprise doesn't mean the majority of guests do... Who should be happy about two rides being closed? No-one was particularly happy on here about CCR or Saw Alive's hours (Time Voyagers I discount, because it's truly woeful)...Problem is often with parks is that decisions are made by the higher ups who do not have to encounter the backlash from the choice... Every choice will have issues regardless for one person or another, but quite often it's the staff who deal with guests face to face who have to suffer with problems (Chessie had 3 staff on Falls entrance for how long after the restriction change?)...From the broad point of view, it DOES look bad on the park from the normal guests... To lose an hour on weekends as well is bad... The lack of consistent times looks bad...Who's to say if they returned to normal opening if they would cut Scarefest or the Fireworks? In fact they ALREADY have cut Scarefest hours in that week before half term (which gained a fair amount of people both days I went in the past 3 years, regardless of walk-ons) but now I can't do that... Considering I was still at uni during Half Term, it was much better for me to go those dates, but now I wouldn't want to... Lost custom and food from me and I would guess a fair few others too...It's just generally disappointing, and even if we as enthusiasts know it's part of cost cutting and stuff, no-one likes to see it, as evidenced by the backlash on social media sites...4pm closes are pathetic when nothing else in the country does... Even the indie parks open later on off peak days, so what will people do? Take their custom elsewhere to get some more 'value for money'... Why should a family of 4 go to Towers midweek when Drayton is just a bit further along? And arguably cheaper and with more for kids? By hour standards, they get more hours for a cheaper (on gate) ticket price...They will lose some custom over it... Midweek at Towers is NOTHING like midweek days at Chessie or Thorpe... I've seen Spinball with 30 minute queues midweek, longer than any queues you see on offpeak days at both those others combined...

With the ERT...What if you DON'T get ERT?From the average guest perspective, what if they CAN'T go during busier days? Or just don't want to? What if you can't get up to Towers for 9am in the morning?It's just poor show, especially when EVERY OTHER PARK IN THE COUNTRY closes at 5pm...As I said before, I would rather on offpeak days they remove the ERT and keep the 5pm time... That'll please the majority of normal guests paying on the gate... And means that they don't have to keep the costs up due to 5 people in the park for an hour...

Minus CCR, Time Voyagers, but on the other hand have a brand new B&M, which I'm sure will balance it out...Who seriously cares about Time Voyagers being shut?

I don't think Thorpe were planning the brakes to be buggered though

Would prefer actors around Swarm than some really crap maze tie-in...

I WANT THOSE MUGS! <3What about the shirt selection? From the updates I've seen, this is a stunner and unbelievably good...Sign of things to come under Merlin additions? As long as Sub Terra is as fab as this then the future will hopefully be a lot brighter than it has been (as long as the OTHER issues such as opening times and the like are sorted)...And lol, breaking down... I do hope it avoids doing that next weekend...

Fixed for your pleasure.

Understandable? Needed?Both are very arguable points indeed. But the problem is here, what does the average guest gain from this? What does any guest actually gain?If they wanted to reduce operating costs on offpeak days, why not remove ERT? Sure people MIGHT get annoyed, but really, is it worth Towers running Nemesis so that 5 people can ride it for an hour?Given the choice of reduced normal opening times or no ERT on offpeak days, I would much prefer the choice of no ERT personally...

Oi, get your facts straight before claiming things that are incorrect...I stole them off TTF

YES! YES! YES!That looks sooooooo pacey... I love it... I want it now! It looks so brilliant!Europa

Edited for accuracy

DarKastle is under-rated...Huntik is better than all of them <3

Personally, the song reminds me of Lost Prophets more than anything...But, I don't think it would work in a theme park environment... Sometimes it does (Mirabilandia) but it either needs to be throughout the park, or not at all unless like with Amity Cove it is suitable...I'm being across the board here with every music genre... Aside from instrumental... Instrumental themes suit rides so well...Who knows, maybe the ride actually has dedicated music, and the whole YMAS connection is literally just a new form of PR (a decent avenue as well)...

ERT, plenty of people close by who will most likely go to school, then to the meet at about 4pm...Hard to really use that as a true example of how popular a midweek one would be, especially for Towers...

Let's be honest here...Both Thorpe's and Towers' maps are truly awful for any navigational purposes... There difference is Towers actually NEEDS a decent map in case people wish to trek through the gardens or whatever, whilst Thorpe you just look at a ride and walk towards it in any direction you feel...I doubt either map will truly affect a person's day out so much... Besides, Towers is trying to make the Resort more noticeable, I'm sure if/when Thorpe get a hotel, they'll do EXACTLY the same...

A new iPad already?Does it actually do anything different or is it just same stuff different number/case/logo?

Gorgeous...There's just something different watching wooden coasters... I wanna book my trip now

Thorpe (and Towers) and have both done these for the generic park, arguably the best merch I've seen from our parks... Paperweights are quite cool...

Tbh, I want our parks to have more of a design way to ride shirts, rather than just plastering the logo onto the front and calling it a day...More stuff like the female Krake top (with glittery tentacles) or the newer Thirteen shirts (with the Wraiths and branches) are a good start... I like having the ride shirts but I wouldn't mind having more choice, instead of just LOGO or nothing at all...Same for Hoodies really... Although I still wanted that Krake hoodie...

Swarm bear...That is all...

Whilst not DIRECTLY ride related, I feel it's important to mention...The creator of that infamous song "It's a Small World" has died...http://www.imdb.com/news/ni23939170/:'(

I only say Krake cos I could pretend it's Swarm's music rather than be constantly told that it's Raptor's